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Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
Stokes ready to deal with increased workload despite feeling sore all over
MANCHESTER, England, July 27 (Reuters) - With England seemingly reliant on Ben Stokes with bat and ball, the struggling skipper insisted "pain is just an emotion" as he plans to take to the field for his side's fifth and deciding test against India this week. The England captain struggled with cramp in his left leg and was feeling his shoulder as the hosts failed to bowl India out in their second innings at Old Trafford on Sunday and had to settle for a fourth test draw. Stokes took his first five-wicket haul for eight years in India's first innings, an impressive feat given his recent injury issues. "It's just a workload sort of thing," Stokes told reporters after the draw with India left England leading 2-1 in the five-match series. "We got a fair amount of overs and everything starts creeping up on you. I'll keep trying, keep going and as I say to all the bowlers: pain is just an emotion. "I'll always try to run through a brick wall for the team." Stokes revealed he had hurt his bicep tendon, with his injury niggles the result of a taxing workload that has seen him already send down 140 overs in four tests -- the most he has ever bowled in a series. However, Stokes, the leading wicket-taker of the series, is optimistic of taking to the field at the Oval on Thursday as England try to seal a 3-1 series triumph. "Hopefully I will be alright going for the last one," he said. "I am doing everything possible to be alright. It's been a big five or six weeks, I'll always try to give everything I possibly can. "I don't want to eat my words, but the likelihood I won't play is very unlikely." India showed great character to battle to an unexpected draw, given they are a young team. Shubman Gill, 25, is playing his first test series as captain following the retirements of Indian greats Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin. Coach Gautam Gambhir reserved special praise for his skipper, who became only the third captain to score four hundreds in a single test series to help his side salvage a draw. "These are characters who are sat in the dressing room wanting to fight for their country," Gambhir told reporters. "I don't believe in something like transition. It is still an Indian team. It is only experience and inexperience. Being under pressure, batting five sessions against an attack like England, will do so much for them. "An important thing is he (Gill) is living up to his expectations and his talent. When he goes into bat, he goes in as a batsman, not a captain."
The Independent
5 hours ago
- The Independent
Agyemang can inspire next generation of Lionesses, former coach says
Lioness Michelle Agyemang has sealed her place as an inspirational heroine for the next generation of girls who want to play football, the coach at her old local club has said. Youngsters from Agyemang's hometown gathered at a small community centre in South Ockendon, Essex, to cheer on the Lionesses to victory at the Euro 2025 final. The biggest applause was for the 19 year-old striker who just a few years ago was also playing at Brandon Groves FC. Agyemang was named The Young Player of the Tournament on Sunday as England triumphed on penalties against Spain after a 1-1 draw. On Sunday, Roy Enright, 45, who manages the girls' team of under 13-year-olds, said: 'We are proud of Michelle, obviously, but we are also proud of our our girls' team here who play and train every week. They are consistent. 'Michelle's success and the Lionesses' success will only help that and it will only drive our girls on even further over the next year. It will also bring more girls into football locally as well.' He said it was 'amazing' to see Agyemang scoop the Young Player award after scoring two goals, making six attempts and having a 77.5% passing accuracy rating in the competition. Paula Howes, vice chair of Brandon Grove FC, said: 'I think she (Agyemang) has got that determination and that drive on the pitch, and the girls can connect with that. 'It is also knowing that she is a local girl as well, I think that helps give them the motivation and drive, to know that you can start at grassroots football and progress up to the higher level, if you work at it.' Agyemang, who had one England cap before the tournament, has been a rising star in this competition, and twice became the team's saviour with equalisers in their quarter-final and semi-final comebacks. The 19-year-old came off the bench to score crucial equalisers against Sweden in the quarter-final and Italy in the last four. She also came on as a substitute in the final as England eventually saw off Spain on penalties to retain the trophy. Agyemang was picked as young player of the tournament by the Uefa Technical Observer Group who for her outstanding impact, both individually and for England. They said: 'Michelle made a great contribution to help England reach the final. 'She came on and both times got the goals that England needed to get through.' Lena Kowalska, 12, who plays midfield for the local team, said she was really impressed and inspired by Agyemang. She said: 'It is the fact that at her age, she can already be playing in the Euros and with the top women, it just makes me feel that we could do it one day if we are hard working as well.'
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Ben Stokes sees his pain as a friend not a foe after channeling late father's spirit to deliver brave, bicep-straining spell in gripping fourth Test
Before the fourth Test became a long and frustrating succession of strangled England appeals and stubborn India resistance, before the match turned into a vaudeville of full tosses and slogged sixes, the morning session provided some of the most compelling theatre of even this wonderful series. It centred on Ben Stokes and his relationship with pain. It is an interesting correspondence that these two share. Sometimes, it almost feels as if they are friends, as if Stokes welcomes pain as just another thing for him to overcome, something to make him feel worthy of this gift that he has been given, and of his father, Ged. It became evident from the first ball he bowled that the England captain was carrying an injury to his biceps tendon in his right arm. He clutched at it after every delivery but he would not submit to it. He ran in time after time after time, over after over, long after the toll he was exacting on his body began to make many in the ground feel uneasy. And even though he was clearly in agony, he was still England's best bowler on a day that was to end in disappointment and anticlimax. Only he, and briefly Jofra Archer, caused India any real discomfort. Only he extracted enough life out of redoubtably flat pitch to suggest that England might yet force the win that would have clinched the series. One of the things that makes Stokes such an inspiring leader and the most charismatic character in English sport is that his career appears to be guided by the principle of sacrifice of self in the service of the team. If that means staring down pain, in refusing to submit to it, then so be it. Some of it is learned behaviour. His late father, Ged, an indomitable rugby league player, was a famously courageous player who, to less formidable human beings, was almost comically resistant to physical discomfort. The most celebrated example of his defiance was an injury he sustained to his finger in a match in his native New Zealand in 1982. 'I thought to myself, "I don't really want to come off for a dislocated finger",' he said later, 'so I put it back in myself — and broke it. I spent the year playing in England with it strapped up. When I came back, I had to get my knee cartilage trimmed, so I got my finger off at the same time.' Ged later accepted that spending a season in England with a finger permanently pointing straight ahead was cumbersome'. The England captain paid an affectionate tribute to his dad when he reached his century here on Saturday, looking to the sky and folding his middle finger under his palm to imitate the effect of his father's amputated digit. It has been his favoured celebration since before Ged passed away in 2020. But he pays tribute to his father every time he plays because of the manner in which he plays, because of the courage with which he plays, because of the way that his first thought is for the team not for individual successes or, indeed, his own wellbeing. Only Stokes, only an injured Stokes, ever looked like denying India a famous draw. He bowled his heart out for eight overs in succession in his morning spell, sacrificing himself with the old ball to keep his strike bowlers fresh for the new ball, which was due 17 overs into the day. From Stokes's first over, when Shubman Gill survived a loud appeal for lbw, and played and missed twice, the England captain, who is this series' leading wicket taker, looked like the most dangerous component of the attack. Stokes nearly claimed Gill's wicket in his second over when the India captain lofted a shot to extra cover. Ollie Pope leapt to try to catch it and got both hands to it at the top of his leap but the ball was just too high and it spilled from his fingers. After the match, Stokes admitted he had been in agony — but insisted 'pain is just an emotion' and said he was unlikely to miss the Oval Test It was not long before Stokes finally broke India's 188 third-wicket partnership by trapping KL Rahul lbw by rapping him on the pad of his back leg. Rahul was plum and Stokes did not even bother turning to look at the umpire as he ran towards the slips celebrating. By now, Stokes, who took five wickets in India's first innings, appeared to be in considerable pain. He grabbed at his shoulder after every delivery, wincing and trying to massage the joint with his left hand. When he was fielding in the covers, he let his right hand hang loose by his side to try to get some relief. Soon, it became obvious he could not field with his right hand after a delivery. But still he did not seek release. The first ball of his fifth over reared up off the pitch and hit Gill on the glove and then smashed into his helmet. Gill leapt away from the crease, shaking his hand. The Indians were not strangers to pain in this Test, either. Rishabh Pant batted with a broken foot earlier in the match. Stokes bowled on. The drinks break came and went and he resumed from the Sir James Anderson End. Some worried that it was madness, that he might be risking the kind of injury that would stop him travelling to Australia for the Ashes this winter and appearing at the Oval for the fifth Test this week. But Stokes does not think like that. 'The likelihood of me not appearing at the Oval is very unlikely,' he said after the game. Pain is just another adversary to be conquered. He only yielded when the new ball was due, his job and his duty done. 'How are you feeling physically?' Stokes was asked after the match. 'Been better,' he said with a grin. 'I said a few times to the guys out there, "Pain is just an emotion".'
